A Kitsune's Adventure
by Kimi-1973
Summary: Naruto and team finally arrive in Hidden Sand and meet Gaara.
1. Chapter 1

Disclaimer: I have no ownership to Naruto Part 1 – 7/26/04 updated 5/10/06

Naruto travels with Jiraiya in his early years.

**A Kitsune's Adventure**  
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Escape! Run! Hide! Were the thoughts running thru Naruto four year old mind, as he dash thru the dense forest undergrowth in the middle of the night.

Now you might ask why is, Naruto running as if his life depended on it. Well to this point we must take a step back, well at least two hours back.

2 hours in the past

Hmm, that ramen was yummy, thought a smiling content Naruto, as he patted his stuffed tummy. Now where in Hidden Stone did big brother say to meet him? Huh, he's probably stilling doing research for his book, thought Naruto, as he mumbled stupid perverted sensei.

You might be wondering why Naruto is with Jiraiya, and in Hidden Stone instead of his birthplace of Hidden Leaf. Well that would be because Naruto has been traveling with Jiraiya since he was two years old, as the Hokage saw all the persecution that Naruto was receiving as just a small baby and he did not see the villagers changing their minds and for the growth of a small child that attitude, just would not do.

So he send Naruto off with Jiraiya to travel, train, and to hopefully live a peace normal life. Well as normal a life that a child could have around a perverted sannin.

So now back to our wandering Naruto.

Stupid perverted sensei, mumbled Naruto. He's probably at the bath house peeping and drooling over all the pretty ladies, sighed little Naruto as he directed his steps to the bath house district.

Upon arriving in the bath house district, Naruto with a little frown looked around trying to find his perverted sensei.

But unfortunately for him, he was not the only individuals looking for the peeping tom.

A large group of aggravated women approached Naruto from the bath house that was directly in front of him. Our little hero was struck dumb as the women surround him demanding to know if he had seen a peeping tom who was fleeing the scene.

Naruto being the small young child that he was, stuttered out, "You mean big brother". Which to say the least was not the right thing to say to the aggravated group of women.

Now the mood of the group of women; if it had been a bit dark and foreboding before was dreadfully murderess now.

Poor little Naruto!

This is why we find our little hero, running for his life. After fleeing the bath house scene, which to Naruto luck was on the edge of town. Naruto ran with all his might past the rock fields, to the nearby forest, hoping to escape the aggravated women. But unfortunately for him a small number of the women continued to follow him outside of town, but by the time Naruto had entered the forest there was no one else following him.

But for our little Naruto, he was to far gone into fear to realize that there were no more scary ladies following him.

Thus we have a scared, frightened, and shivering little Naruto who has finally dropped from exhaustion into a deep sleep in a small clearing under the starry moonlight night.

But on the edge of that clearing a small set of glowing golden eyes peer out at our little slumbering Naruto. As they edge closer and closer to their ultimate goal.

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	2. Chapter 2

Disclaimer: I have no ownership to Naruto Part 2 – 7/26/04 updated 05/10/06

Naruto travels with Jiraiya in his early years.

**A Kitsune's Adventure**  
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Wow, such good research material, hmm, hmm, mumbled Jiraiya, with a bright red blush across his cheeks. I can finish "Come Come Paradise" now. Kakashi will be very, very happy; I'll have to remember to send him the next edition. His tip about this bath house was first rate.

Well, I better go and meet up with Naruto. He's probably wondering where I am now. I'm only a little bit late, but I could not pass up that shower scene, oh no, I couldn't, Jiraya thought as he grabbed some tissue to stick up his nose.

I do believe our perverted sensei has a very active imagination.

Now let's see, Naruto should be around here somewhere, Jiraiya thought. Just then Jiraiya saw a group of ladies heading towards him back to the bath house district. Mmm, maybe I'll go back and start "Icha Icha Paradise Volume 27" he thought as he heard something that worried him a bit.

"Well, I think we stopped that little pervert" he heard one lovely lady say. "Yeah, we ran him straight out of town" shout another. "Now if we can just find his older peeping tom brother, we could all bath in peace" stated a third lovely. "Well, I think he was just a little too young to be a peeping tom anyhow" mumbled a very timid lovely. "Well that half pint is off in the forest now and good ridden, I say" boasted the first lovely.

Hmm, it seems Naruto has gotten himself into a bit of trouble thought Jiraiya, with a little nod. Choices, choices! Find Naruto or "Icha Icha Paradise", hmm appraised Jiraiya, as he weighted each thoughtful choice.

Well, I guess there will always be lovely ladies but there is only one Naruto. So I guess I better find the half pint, Jiraiya concluded after much internal debate.

Audience has sweat drops – after Jiraiya's five minute internal debate

Who knows what kind of trouble he can get himself into out in the forest, thought Jiraiya. Well at least he should be easy to find, between not covering his tracks and his unique chakra signature, finding him should not be a problem.

So off goes our perverted sensei guardian, to find his young blonde-haired, whiskered marked charge.

Now back in the forest in the small clearing, where our little Naruto sleeps.

Golden eyes had tracked the strange smelling small human from the edge of the forest to the small clearing, where the small one collapsed in exhaustion and finally into sleep. This small young human for some reason had a strange combination smell like that of an ancient kitsune and ramen for some reason.

Maybe this is the human that the elders wanted? Maybe this was the human who was part kitsune also. Well there is nothing that I can do about it now. He's in a deep sleep, and will not be waking up anytime soon.

Mmm, he seems cold; I can see him shivering from here. Well, if he's the one, it would not do to have him go and die on me. That would surely not please the elders. Well, I guess I can keep him warm if I curl up with him. I don't think he can harm me in anyway, and he does need to warm up a bit. Oh well, let's see what happens if I get closer.

In the clearing, we see a small golden eyed, silvery-white kitsune approaching our slumbering Naruto. We see the small silvery kitsune getting closer and closer to Naruto, one step following the next, ever alert for any strange sounds, smells, or movements.

Naruto sudden, lifts his arm up, and says "one more bowl of miso ramen, please" before rolling towards our silvery kitsune and continuing his ramen filled dreams. The silvery fox halts, waits, and then continues his journey to Naruto.

As the silvery kitsune reaches Naruto, it curls itself up and settles itself down around Naruto's stomach, purring it's delight as Naruto then curls himself around the kitsune's warmth.

High up in the treetops, Jiraya looks down at the peacefully sleep boy and kitsune and wonders, what the morning will bring, as he settles himself on his branch high above for a night's rest.

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	3. Chapter 3

**Note**: I have no ownership to Naruto

**Part 3 – 8/13/04 updated 05/10/06**

Naruto has his first introduction to a spirit kitsune.

**A Kitsune's Adventure**

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As morning broke over the small clearing in the forest; we see little Naruto cuddling the silvery kitsune as it tries to wake him up by pushing its snout into Naruto's neck.

He, He, He! That tickles, stop it big brother. He, He, He!

Naruto tries to escape the tickling by rolling over to his other side. But this does not stop our foxy little friend. As he has proceeded to licking Naruto's face figuring that that should guarantee some positive waking results.

"Come on kit, wake up" our silvery kitsune commands with a bark. "Why", whines Naruto with his eyes closed, as he tries to avoid the little tongue that is giving him a morning bath.

"Because, I want to talk to you" barks the silvery kitsune as the kitsune placed his fore-legs on Naruto's left-side, trying to push Naruto into action. Naruto just yawns, arches his back and slowly opens his eyes to see the fuzzy face of our silvery kitsune. Naruto blinks, and then twists his neck to look at the kitsune, before finally rolling over onto his back as the kitsune's paws slide to Naruto's chest. Naruto then blinks again before saying, "Who are you? You're not big brother."

The kitsune then gives a foxy's little grin, before barking, "Of course not, I'm Yuki." That's when Naruto finally realizes that he's talking with a kitsune, when he shouts. "You're a kitsune, how can I understand you?" as he jumps up pointing a shaking finger at Yuki. Yuki although just rolls his golden-eyes at Naruto and states, "That's because I'm a spirit kitsune, and only certain humans can understand spirit kitsune and it is only when we want them too.

"Oh", murmured Naruto as he lay back down on the ground. "How was I to know" he blinked up to the morning sky and forest-trees. "Hey wait, where am I?" Naruto shouted as he sat back up.

"You're in the forest, baka" mentioned Yuki as he sat down on his hind legs. "I know that you baka kitsune." "Hey, hey no reason for name calling" barked Yuki. "Well you started it" pouted Naruto with a giant yawn. "I'm hungry" stated Naruto as he scratched his head with a growling tummy.

"Well, I could get a fuzzy rabbit or some yummy grubs" said Yuki thoughtfully as he scratched his snout with a front paw. "Eww" moaned Naruto. "No way, I want ramen" pouted Naruto with a frown and his arms crossed his chest as he huffed. "What is ramen?" questioned Yuki. "Ramen" drooled Naruto "are yummy, yummy noodles that big brother buys for me. They are really, really yummy", stated Naruto as he spaced out, dreaming of dancing ramen noodles.

"Yo kid, wake up" Yuki barked as he nipped Naruto's left ear. "Ouch, stop that, that hurts", shouted Naruto, as he rubbed his offended ear, as gentle amused laughter could be heard floating down from the treetops.

"Yo, Naruto, you and that kitsune are a riot" shouted Jiraiya as he hopped down from his treetop bed.

"Big brother", shouted Naruto as he scrabbled up to leap into Jiraiya arms. Jiraiya gave a laugh as he lifted Naruto into his arms for a hug and a head ruffle. Jiraiya then looked at the kitsune and said, "Good Morning Yuki and thank you for looking after Naruto last night".

Naruto with a shocked face shouted "How did you know Yuki's name?" "Hey if I can talk to toads I can talk to kitsunes, squirt", Jiraiya stated with bland voice, as he put Naruto down by the kitsune.

"My question is, what a spirit kitsune wants with Naruto?" he questioned Yuki with a steady stare. It's rare to see a spirit kitsune, never the less; have one actually speak to you directly.

"You seem to know a little bit about spirit kitsune's yourself" barked Yuki as the kitsune's looked up at Jiraiya as if evaluating him for something.

"Well, I am a great sannin and the one and only toad-hermit, even if I am watching out for little Naruto here. Someone needs to bring the boy up right. Why I have yet to teach him spying on bathhouse 101."

At Jiraiya statement both Yuki and Naruto's jaws drop in disbelief of the great sannin.

"Dirty ero-sensei" mumbles Naruto. "You are the guardian over Naruto?" barks Yuki sharply. Oh Kami, what have I gotten myself into now, Yuki thinks as little kitsune sweat drops form.

"So kitsune, why are you here?", asks Jiraiya with a tilt of his head? "The elders have sent me out to search for the one who is part kitsune. I have been searching many years, and I believe that Naruto is the one that I have been searching for all this time", Yuki states with conviction.

"So what do your elders want?" questioned Jiraiya, as he fixed the kitsune with a stare.

"That I do not know, I was only asked to search and bring back the individual. I know nothing else", barked Yuki.

"Well Naruto, what do you think? Should we go our separate ways or follow the silvery kitsune and meet his elders?" Jiraiya asked Naruto as he looked him straight in the eyes. Hmm! Hmm! "What should we do?" a thoughtful Naruto nodded with his little hand on his chin.

"I know, let's go and eat ramen, maybe the ramen Kami knows the answer", shouted Naruto as he pumped his hand into the air. "**Baka**" was heard as Jiraiya swapped his head and Yuki nipped at his hand.

"Ouch", Naruto yelped as he rubbed his offend hand to his offend head. "That hurts" pouted the wounded Naruto.

"We will not leave this decision to your ramen Kami Naruto, you need to decide" shouted Jiraiya as Yuki barked in agreement. "Okay, okay, okay!" mumbled Naruto. "Let's go and meet the elder kitsunes, maybe they will teach me some cool jutsus" pouted Naruto as he stuck his tongue out at Jiraiya.

"Right Yuki, they can teach me jutsu, right!" asked Naruto as he sat down next to Yuki.

"Maybe, you will need to ask the elders about that" Yuki barked.

"Well then if the decision has been made, we should go and pack Naruto, it seems our adventure has just started" Jiraiya stated with a smile as he glanced down at Naruto and Yuki. Who were jumping around the clearing chanting, "We're going to meet the elders, we're going to meet the elders."

**To be continued **

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	4. Chapter 4

**Note**: I have no ownership to Naruto

**Part 4 – 10/8/04 updated 05/10/06 : Sorry about this being so late.**

Ready or Not! Naruto has family!

**A Kitsune's Adventure**

"Bet you can't catch me Yuki" yelled a twelve year old Naruto as he jumped from tree to tree with the grace and speed of a kitsune. "You want to bet kid" yipped Yuki, as a flash of silver was seen from the corner of Naruto's blue eyes that were streaked with thin lines of red as he quickly banked away from the silvery kitsune.

"Yo, Naruto, Yuki! Let's break for lunch" shouted Jiraiya as his eyes followed the two as they flashed here and there in their game of tag.

"Lunch, yippee! Come on Yuki, let's eat lunch. Is it ramen ero-sannin?" said Naruto as he leaped down to Jiraiya, who was settling up a small fire pit. "Well it will be ramen and fish, if you go and get some water and the fish" replied Jiraiya with a grin. "Alright ramen!" shouted Naruto as he pumped his fist in the air and jumped up, as Yuki ran around Naruto and Jiraiya barking "Raman, ramen, ramen!"

Jiraiya thought 'that's a kitsune after Naruto's own heart'. "Hey, hey where's the water and the fish?" questioned Jiraiya with a quick grin. "Oh yeah! Let's see" murmured Naruto as he sniffed the air, to sense a water source.

"There's a small river about a half mile to the north" stated Naruto, "Let's go Yuki, last one there's a rotten egg" yelled Naruto as he took off with the water bucket in hand, with Yuki hot on his heels.

"And make it quick" yelled Jiraiya after them. "Be back in five" was the returning answer as Jiraiya chuckled as he continued to build a fire.

'That boy sure is growing by leaps and bounds' thought Jiraiya as he reflected on the past. 'I can't believe it's been almost eight years since we met the kitsune elders. Eight years, eight different kitsune, only two more to go. The next one should be finding us soon. I wonder what the next one will be teaching Naruto. He's had two teach him chakra control, one on medical jutsus and plant life, one on physical conditioning and taijutsu, another two on different defense jutsus, and two on offense jutsus using different environmental elements. Then there are all the jutsus that I taught him from his father. The fourth would be proud. Between kitsunes and me, he really will make his dream come true of being Hokage. Hmm, we should probably head back to Konoha so he can take the genin test.'

"Yo ero-sannin, you in there" Naruto said as he waved the fish in front of Jiraiya's face. "Yea, wake up. Where's my ramen" barked Yuki as he nipped at Jiraiya pants.

Chuckling, Jiraiya grabbed the bucket of water from Naruto to set a pot of water on to boil, as Naruto when to prepare the fish. "Patience Yuki, all great ramen takes time" replied Jiraiya with a grin as he broke up some ramen into the pot. "If you say so" pouted Yuki as he sat down by Naruto near the fire to await his mouth watering ramen.

"Yo Naruto, what do you think about going back to Konoha for the genin exam?" questioned Jiraiya with a sudden seriousness. "What about the next kitsune elder?" asked Naruto with a frown. "Don't I have another two to go? How can I be a genin if I am learning from an elder?"

"Well that would be simple. You are currently learning from me and elder kitsune. I don't see why, you could not continue to learning from a genin team and a jonin sensei plus your elder kitsune" stated Jiraiya as he ladled some ramen into Yuki's dish.

"About time old man" yipped Yuki as he started to snarf down his ramen. "What about you, are you going to stop being my ero-sannin?" started a worried Naruto as his ramen hung in suspension before his mouth. "I'll always be there for you Naruto, but I don't have to be your sensei to be there for you" laughed Jiraiya as he ruffled Naruto hair like a father would his son.

"You are one of my precious people, and I will always be there for you went you need me" Jiraiya stated with conviction as he made eye contact with Naruto. Whose face was like the dawn and broke into a smile to brighten the world. "Big Brother!" Naruto shouted with affection as he jumped into Jiraiya arms for a hug, while in the process knocking over his ramen bowl to Yuki's delight. "Ramen, ramen, ramen" yipped and barked Yuki as he dashed to catch the falling ramen. Laughter could be heard from Naruto and Jiraiya over Yuki's antics.

"So do you want to head back to Konoha and join a genin team? It would allow you to work on your teamwork skills and you would be around kids your own age" stated Jiraiya as he released Naruto to finish his lunch.

"Hmm! Well it would be nice to meet kids my own age. But would they be nice and like me? You know about the whole Kyubi thing and all" questioned Naruto as he picked at his fish with downcast eyes, as he remembered the villagers and how they treated him.

Jiraiya frowned as he looked at Naruto as he started, "You know Naruto, it has been a long time since you were in Konoha, and most people will not remember that you are the container for Kyubi, but some will" warned Jiraiya. "But your precious people will not care, and will accept you for you. Uzumaki Naruto, the future Hokage of Konoha!" "Although", Jiraiya paused "you still have a long ways to go there" teased Jiraiya the toad sannin with a smile and a cuff to Naruto head. "Yea, I am going to be the future Hokage. Then they will have to accept and acknowledge me" shouted Naruto with a victory pose. "Hokage, Hokage, Hokage!" yipped Yuki as he jumped and danced around Naruto. Jiraiya just chuckled at the two's antics.

"So we are heading to fire country are we?" was barked to the three, which then halted all actions as heads turned towards the barking voice that was located on a large tree branch.

"Elder Kui!" barked Yuki, as he bowed to the elder kitsune. "Elder" replied Jiraiya as he nodded his head, and put his hand on Naruto's back. Naruto who was quiet looked at the elder kitsune with wide eyes, as he watched the elder kitsune leap gracefully to the ground from the tree branch in a flash of red gold, to come right before him.

"Greetings Naruto-sama" barked the red gold elder kitsune with blood red eyes that was the size of a large dog. "It is an honor to be your kitsune-sensei for the next year. My name is Kui. I am the great-great grand-daughter of Kyubi-sama. It is a pleasure to be with family again" barked the Elder Kui to Naruto with a bow.

'Family' thought Naruto with shock. 'I have a kitsune family', pondered Naruto with a slowly building kitsune grin. "Greetings Elder Kui, it is a pleasure to have family" greeted Naruto with a bow.

"Oh please call me Kui, we are family after all" barked Kui as she sat down before the group. "Greetings, Jiraiya-san and Yuki-kun; I have heard many great and interesting things from Naruto-sama's prior kitsune-senseis" yipped and barked a grinning Kui. "Hopefully only good things" joked Jiraiya with a laugh. "Oh yes, Naruto-sama has greatly impressed the elder kitsunes with his energy and determination" barked Kui.

"So" began Naruto, "are you going to teach me cool jutsus and stuff" asked Naruto with a cheeky grin. "So it is true!" barked Kui. "One of the first questions you ask is about cool jutsus" barked a laughing Kui. "You think that's bad" he asks me that question everyday" chuckled Jiraiya as he ruffled Naruto's hair. "Hey, that's not fair. You're ganging up on me" pouted Naruto as he sat down at Jiraiya's feet with a huff and crossed arms.

"Stop picking on Naruto" growled Yuki as he sat down by Naruto and put his head on Naruto's lap and started to purr at Naruto to lift his spirits. "Thanks Yuki" replied Naruto as he started to pet Yuki's head in slow long strokes.

"Don't worry Naruto, I will teach you some of our family's elemental jutsus over the next year and as we go to Konoha, I will start to teach you one of Kyubi favorite jutsus, the fire-spin no jutsu" barked a reassuring Kui as she sat down in front of Naruto to look at him.

"Really, sugoi!" started Naruto in awe, as Jiraiya chuckled at Naruto's reaction.

"Well when are we going to start heading to Konoha ero-sannin and how long will it take to get there?" questioned Naruto as he looked up at Jiraiya, while continuing to pet Yuki. "Let's see, we are currently in Water Country and it will take around two plus weeks to get to Konoha. The regular genin exam was two months ago, but we can have you take an out of season genin exam. So I say we head out tomorrow morning and you can get to know Kui a bit better. So we will stay here for the rest of the day, since we already have a mini camp started. What do you think Kui?" stated Jiraiya as he started to pull out their tent from his pack.

"That sounds fine to me" replied Kui as she glanced over to Jiraiya. "While you finish setup camp I will take the boys hunting for dinner. That will allow me to evaluate Naruto-sama's stealth skills" commented Kui.

"Naruto can be very stealthy when he really wants to be" stated Jiraiya. "Hey" pouted Naruto as he and Yuki started to get up to go hunting with Kui.

"Bet you I find dinner first Yuki" as Naruto took off to go hunting. "Yeah right" growled Yuki, hot on Naruto's trail. "Wait up for me" barked Kui as she gave chase to the distance blurry figures.

'Well the next few weeks should be interesting' thought Jiraiya. 'But then the real fun will begin' reflected the toad-sannin.

'Ready or Not, Here We Come Konoha!'

**To be continued **


	5. Chapter 5

**Note**: I have no ownership to Naruto

**Part 5 – 05/10/06 – Sorry about this being so late, life became busy, but I will have quite a bit of open time to write now.**

Watch out Konoha, Naruto is back!

**A Kitsune's Adventure**

"We're almost to Konoha", "We're almost to Konoha!" was the chant that was quickly driving Jiraiya insane as it was barked, yipped, and sang by Naruto and Yuki, with snickering snorts from Kui.

"They are quite amusing, wouldn't you say Jiraiya", barked Kui as she leaped gracefully from tree to tree in the forest that surrounded Konoha.

Currently the traveling quad was about two hours outside of Konoha. They had made good time on their journey to Konoha from Water Country. They had just passed through Wave Country and had seen the start of the construction of the new bridge. The bridge was being built to help the economic in Wave Country, as it was sorely needed for the poor country.

"Yes, quite amusing, if you can stand the constant repeating of certain phrases", snorted Jiraiya, as the toad-sannin jumped from tree to tree.

"Hmm, yes the ramen chant could use a new tune" snorted Kui as she smirked and her eyes flashed a gleaming red in the afternoon sun that was being filtered through the forest canopy.

"But in all seriousness, do you think that there will be any problems with Naruto, Yuki, and myself being in Konoha?" barked Kui with concern to Jiraiya.

"Well, yes and no" stated Jiraiya with thought. "I was able to send off a message to Konoha, so they know to expect us at the village gates at some point. We will need to go directly to the Hokage Tower to check in with the Sandaime. He will want a status check of our travels and of Naruto's shinobi training. In all honestly Naruto would be ranked a mid to high level chunin, and while Naruto and Yuki make a good team; he has not worked with other ninjas and he has not been around other children his own age. So it will be a good idea to place him on a genin team where he can learn teamwork with different personalities. Then he can take the chunin exam when it rolls around again. As for yourself and Yuki being in the village, well the village may not like it but the Sandaime has already given his approval and safe passage to have you in the village. Most people will have forgotten or do not know that Naruto has Kyubi sealed inside of him. Thankfully since he has been outside of the village for the past ten years, most of the genins Naruto's age will not know Naruto or have an opinion about Naruto. Their parents will not have taught them to hate or ignore Naruto, and that there will give Naruto the chance he needs to create new friends. This is one of the reasons why the Sandaime sent Naruto out of the village years ago. Naruto had been attacked a number of time during the first two years of his life in Konoha, and this was creating a negative impact on Naruto life. The Yondaime wanted Naruto to be considered a hero to the village; not as a monster that the villagers actually treated him as. The Yondaime and the Sandaime wanted more for Naruto, so the Sandaime gave Naruto to me to train and protect. Although his introduction to the spirit kitsunes and Yuki has greatly helped his shinobi training" commented Jiraiya, as he ran along side Kui.

"Yes, the elders were greatly impressed with Naruto-sama when he was introduced to the elder spirit kitsunes" barked Kui. "His fire, determination, and spirit reminded the elders of their own youth and passage through life. They were sad to hear about Naruto-sama treatment in his early childhood, but were glad to see him under your own guardianship. It was sad to see Kyubi-sama sealed as he is, but had he waited and received the correct intelligence data about the death of his mate and kit. He would not have attacked Konoha thus ending up being sealed with Naruto. Nor would have Konoha suffered all that death from the massacre that happened from the setup from Orochimaru" barked and yipped Kui as the forest continued to flash by them on their journey to Konoha.

"Yes Orochimaru, has much to answer for these days, unfortunately he is also hard to track down and defeat. Many an ANBU and Hunter-nin have died or gone missing from their pursuit of Orochimaru" stated Jiraiya as he kept an eye out for Naruto and Yuki who were playing tag in the treetops around them as they ran.

"It was very generous of the elders to help in Naruto shinobi training" commented Jiraiya in remembrances. "Yes the elders thought it only fair to help in Naruto-sama training, since Kyubi-sama was incorrect in his actions towards Konoha. Thus resulting in the unfair treatment of Naruto-sama" barked Kui. "When it is time the spirit kitsunes will aid Konoha in its fight against Orochimaru, in anyway that we can" growled and barked Kui with conviction.

"The Hokage will be glad to hear that and to have the support" stated Jiraiya. "Together we can bring about the end of Orochimaru and his rein of terror in the shinobi countries.

**To be continued **


	6. Chapter 6

**Note**: I have no ownership to Naruto

**Part 6 – 05/10/06 **

Watch out Konoha, Naruto is back!

**A Kitsune's Adventure**

"We're almost to Konoha! We're almost to Konoha!" sang and yipped Naruto and Yuki as they leaped and dashed from tree limb to tree limb; while playing tag among the treetops.

"Yuki are you excited about your first visit to Konoha?" shouted Naruto in youthful glee. "You bet!" barked Yuki as he tagged and nipped at Naruto.

"Hey, hey watch where you nip. I just got these clothes" gasped Naruto as he ran a quick check over his new clothes. Naruto's outfit consisted of a pair of three-quartered black short pants with matching black vest; under the vest was a standard ninja mesh shirt. Attached at Naruto waist and leg were the standard kunai and shuriken pouch holders. Naruto also wore weighted arm and shin guards where he hid varies senbon needles and other shinobi tools that he did not have in his pouches; on his feet he also wore the standard shinobi sandals, but in black to match his outfit. The last part of Naruto outfit was not necessary clothing, but attached to Naruto's back was a new kanata sword that they had picked up in Hidden Mist as they passed through. Jiraiya had already started to teach Naruto the basic of swordsmanship and was improving rapidly in his training. He had already promised Naruto that he would continue his training once they had reached Konoha and as long as Naruto's jonin-sensei did not mind.

"Yuki" started Naruto. "Are you nervous at all about going to Konoha?" questioned a quiet and suddenly serious Naruto. "Hmm, maybe just a little" barked Yuki to Naruto. "I know Konoha has no love towards kitsunes after Kyubi-sama attacked, but hopefully we can help build a better relationship and help to find that snake baka Orochimaru. I believe we have some unfinished business with that baka snake. He thinks that he can kill Kyubi-sama mate and kit then frame Konoha for the job and then get away with it. He is seriously in need to rethink who is exactly his enemies, snake baka" hissed and growled Yuki as he dashed to the left quickly to avoid a tag from Naruto.

"Missed me!" snorted Yuki in laugher to Naruto. "I'll get you yet Yuki, just you wait" pouted Naruto as he planned his next attack with Yuki snickering in the background.

"I wonder what my new genin team will be like or my jonin-sensei. I hope he is not a ero-sensei like ero-sannin" pondered Naruto out loud, then quickly dodged to the right to avoid the stone that was thrown by Jiraiya the said ero-sannin.

"I heard that Naruto!" growled Jiraiya as he proceeded to throw a few more stones at Naruto in rapidly; while Yuki and Kui proceeded to have a good laugh at Naruto's expense.

"Jiraiya-sama" barked Yuki "where will we be staying while in Konoha?" "Yeah big brother, where will we be living?" questioned Naruto as he dodged the last stone thrown from Jiraiya.

"Well brat we will be living at my house. I have a lovely house with quite the view of the local ladies bathhouse. Why my first five books were written based off my time viewing, oh I mean researching all those lovely ladies of Konoha. Prime realty estate, I must say" boasted Jiraiya as his eyes glassed over in remembrance of all the lovely research he has right off his own balcony.

"Ero-sannin!" could be heard from Naruto as he threw one of the stones that he caught earlier from Jiraiya, creating a nice lump on top of Jiraiya's head; Kui and Yuki yipping and snorting in laugher at their antics.

"Look, look!" barked Yuki in excitement. "I can see the Konoha gates. We're almost there." "Really!" shouted Naruto as he quickened his steps. "Yes, now remember we have to go directly to the Hokage Tower to check in with the Sandaime. Then we'll go settle into my place and maybe later a quick bit of private research" Jiraiya stated as he mumbled the last bit to himself as he came out of his glassy-eyed fog. "Let hop on down to the road so that we can check in with the gate guards" stated Jiraiya as he hopped down to the road and slow down to walk.

"So Naruto are you ready for this, being back in Konoha is a big step for you" said Jiraiya quietly to Naruto. "It's okay to be nervous, but I think you will do great. Just be your normal hyperactive and loud mouth self and you can't go wrong" quip Jiraiya as Naruto frowned and stuck out his tongue out at Jiraiya.

"Don't worry Naruto-sama, Yuki and I will help you, and if they are mean; I do believe that I heard Yuki comment that he would bit or pee on anybody who would harm or belittle his Naruto-sama" barked Kui as Yuki growled an agreement. Naruto laughed at Kui's comments and Yuki's convictions.

"Alright Konoha, you better be ready because Naruto is back in town and I'm going to be the next Hokage. Just you wait and see!" stated Naruto proudly.

"That's the way to handle it Naruto" laughed Jiraiya as they reached the gates to Konoha. "Show them your ninja way Naruto!" stated Jiraiya with a grin. "Show them your ninja way!" Kui nodded in approval and gave an approving bark in agreement.

**To be continued **


	7. Chapter 7

**Note**: I have no ownership to Naruto

**Part 7 – 05/11/06 **

Watch out Konoha, Naruto is back and he has a new genin team!

**A Kitsune's Adventure**

"Well welcome back Jiraiya and Naruto!" greeted the Sandaime when they were ushered through to the Hokage office. "Can you introduce your friends?" asked the Sandaime to Jiraiya and Naruto.

"Hey old man, glad to have me back" teased Naruto with a lop-sided grin. The Sandaime chuckled and said "Yes Naruto it is good to see you again. You have certainly grown these pass ten years."

"Well then I would like you to meet Kui who is a spirit kitsune elder and the foxy kitsune with the red and gold coat, and is the great, great granddaughter of Kyubi. Kui is the current kitsune elder that has been traveling with us for the past two weeks. Yuki here with the sleek silvery-white coat has been traveling with ero-sannin and me for the past eight years. Yuki here introduced us to the kitsune elders and has been my friend ever since" stated Naruto proudly to the room.

"What Jiraiya don't you have anything to add or say?" questioned the Sandaime. "Oh I think that Naruto has covered the introductions quite well" Jiraiya smirked from the corner of the room.

"Well I would like to welcome you Kui and Yuki to Konoha. I'm sure that together we can help build a better tomorrow for both Konoha and the spirit kitsunes" stated the Sandaime with a respectful head bow to Kui. "Yes together we can take down our common enemy of Orochimaru that snake baka" yipped and growled Kui.

"Alright then now as I understand it Naruto and Yuki are inseparable are going to be joining a genin team and Kui and occasionally Jiraiya will be providing additional training outside of Naruto genin team training" commented the Sandaime. "Yep, yep" Yuki yipped; "You can't part me from Naruto-sama. He knows all the good ramen joints. Where he goes, I go" barked Yuki as Yuki sat himself down in front of Naruto.

"Currently we have one genin team that is shy a member and Naruto here will mostly likely be a big help to the team. One member of the team is a bit on the shy side. Hinta is from the Hyuga clan and uses the Byakugan eye. The other member of the team is the lone survivor of the Uchiha clan massacre and the user of the Sharingan eye. Sasuke he is a bit arrogant and stand-offish. Sasuke was this year's academy rookie and he thinks he is unbeatable."

"Naruto I think that you can help both of your new team mates to better themselves as shinobi. Hinta could use someone to encourage her and to see that she is worthy of being a shinobi and that she is not second rate. Sasuke could use someone his own age that can knock the large block off his shoulder and to show him that there is always room for improvement."

"Your jonin-sensei is Hatake Kakashi, also known as the copy-nin" remarked the Sandaime as he was reviewing the files on Team Seven.

"So Naruto are you ready to complete your genin exam?" questioned the Sandaime as he looked up at Naruto. "What right now?" replied a surprised Naruto with shock written all over his face. "Sure, why not, the exam is actually quite simple; just create three bushins and perform a henge jutsu. Well ready to take the exam?" questioned the Sandaime as he steeped his fingers together under his chin with his elbows on top of his desk. "That's it henge and three bunshins; can I combine them together?" asked Naruto. "Sure go ahead" replied the Sandaime.

"Alright here I go!" shouted Naruto with a gleam in his eyes. Naruto quickly ran through the hand seals for henge and kage bunshins which resulted in a laughing riot. As one of Naruto's kage bunshins was henged as a pretty half dress blonde well-endowed young lady in a towel being chased by a Jiraiya kage bunshins; who had drool running down his chin. Who then was being followed by a kage bunshins of Yuki, who was barking "ero-sannin, ero-sannin" as the bunshin Yuki was nipping at the heels of the bunshin of Jiraiya who was trying to take the towel of the bunshin lady.

At this point the Hokage was rolling around the floor laughing with a large nose bleed. Jiraiya was fuming in the corner, plotting revenge and Kui and Yuki were rolling around on the floor yipping and laughing with comments from Yuki to help his bunshin self. Naruto was standing proudly in the middle of the room, smirking at his results.

"So old man, do I pass?" Naruto smirked as he made the henged kage bunshins disappear. "Yes, yes you pass with flying colors" replied the Hokage as he pulled himself back into his chair and wiped his nose of the blood.

"Here take this" as the Sandaime handed Naruto his Hidden Leaf hitai-ate headband. "Wear it proudly; I believe you will be a positive influence on your team and on this village Naruto. Train hard and train well, and I might just let you be the next Hokage to Konoha" the Hokage grinned at Naruto as he pulled out his pipe to lit it.

"Yes I'm a genin, next onto chunin, but first ramen" as Naruto stomach growled in a protest of its empty state.

"Ramen, ramen, ramen!" yipped a happy Yuki as he jumped and dashed around the room.

"Well done Naruto and congratulation; and as to cerebrate I'll treat you to ramen" remarked Jiraiya with a proud smile. "Congratulations, Naruto-sama, you did a great job" Kui barked with a quick head bow to Naruto in approval.

"Now before you leave for dinner, Team Seven meets at nine in the morning over by the red bridge by the Hokage Monument. You can go and introduce yourself to your new team mates and jonin-sensei before starting your training and receiving your work assignments" the Sandaime stated as the group of four prepared to leave the Hokage office and Tower to find the local ramen stand and then to settle into Jiraiya's home for the evening.

"Thanks old man! Now on to the nearness ramen stand!" shouted Naruto as he dashed out of the Hokage office with Yuki right at his heels and Kui and Jiraiya following behind.

'Good Luck Naruto!' thought the Sandaime as the group left his office.

**To be continued **


	8. Chapter 8

**Note**: I have no ownership to Naruto

**Part 8 – 05/18/06 **

Watch out Konoha, Naruto is back, and he is meeting his genin team!

**A Kitsune's Adventure**

As a new day dawn bright over Konoha; Naruto could be seen sleeping in bed curled around Yuki; mumbling "more miso ramen, please!" as Yuki yipped an agreement to Naruto's mumblings.

Yuki unfortunately then rolled over and stretched placing one of his paws directly into Naruto's mouth during Naruto's continues mumblings of ramen. Of course Naruto then proceeded to nip Yuki's paw; awaking Yuki with a startling jump and a yelp of pain. Yuki pulled in his paw that was in pain and licked tentative at it; realized what happen then decided that it was time to awaken Naruto just as rudely as Yuki's awaking.

Yuki with a golden gleam in his eyes prepared to pounces on Naruto exposed stomach, as the soft green colored blanket that was on Naruto slipped off the side of Naruto and onto the floor. Kui hearing the movement in the room stretched from the tip of her nose to the tip of her tail and looked over at the ramen crazed duo. Seeing Yuki's antics; Kui chuckled and waited for the resulting shouts and yells to come.

Just as Naruto rolled over onto his back Yuki pounced and landed directly on Naruto's stomach and barked directly into Naruto's ear "WAKE UP FOR MORNING RAMEN!" Naruto who had just started to mumble "ramen" was cut off in mid "ra-" as his breath was cut off and pushed out of his mouth in a sudden rush of air as his stomach muscles contracted from Yuki's continuation jumping and pouncing on his stomach and barking.

Naruto then sat up abruptly, which caused Yuki to go tumbling off the side of the bed onto the blanket which had fallen onto the floor earlier. Naruto then sucked in a breath of air and proceeded to scream "Yuki" with Kui laughing at their antics in the background.

Kui then gracefully stood up and walked over to Naruto and Yuki who were glaring at each other. "Naruto-sama, I do believe it is time to get up, we have a hour before we need to be at your genin team's training location" barked Kui to Naruto as he grumbled something about withholding Yuki's ramen rights. Yuki was quick to yip "No Way! My Ramen" then Yuki pounced on Naruto to nip at Naruto's fingers.

"Come now Yuki, Naruto-sama let's get some breakfast before we leave for training" barked Kui as she left the bedroom for the living room, with a smirk and mumbling something about "childish kits".

"Do you giving?" Yuki yipped threw his teeth as he snagged the sleeve of Naruto's froggy pajamas and tugged at the sleeve. "Okay, okay! I won't withhold ramen rights" mumbled Naruto then rubbed his head with his offend fingers as he started to take off his pajamas to change into this training clothes once Yuki had released his pajama sleeve.

Naruto then walked into the living room as he finished strapping on his ninja tool pouches, then headed for the kitchen to start breakfast for the group. "Miso ramen sound good Kui, Yuki?" asked Naruto as he started the hot water to boil. "Oh and side of fish" Yuki yipped and leap up at Naruto's leg to verify that his ramen and fish were coming in a timely fashion.

"Yes a bit of fish would be nice this morning" Kui smirked at Yuki's morning energy bursts. "Okay, okay Yuki! A side of fish and miso ramen coming up" Naruto said as he pushed Yuki off his leg and out of the kitchen.

"Where's big brother?" Naruto questioned as he pulled the fish out of the cooler frig and poured the hot water over the ramen noodles to wait the necessary three minutes to finish cooking.

"Oh I heard him come in late this morning. He was stumbling around smelling like saki and mumbling about great research with really red nose and cheeks" snorted Kui. "Ero-sannin" Yuki growled as he rolled his eyes.

"Don't worry Yuki; we'll prank him later; when he lease expects it. It's better to plan these things" snorted Naruto with a gleam in his eyes. "We'll get him good tomorrow; maybe we can hand out a few leaflets or something. "Leaflets, why would we hand out leaflets?" barked Yuki in question, as he slurped up the last of his miso ramen breakfast. Even Kui had a questioned look on her face at the leaflet conversation.

"Well, think about it big brother or our favorite nickname for him of ero-sannin loves to drooling at the bathhouse ladies for research as he calls it for his perverted books. Well what if we draw up some leaflets to pass out and post about the bathhouse to those same bathing ladies about a new local peeping tom in the area. Don't you think that the local ladies, who in this town a little under half of them are kuniochis and will pay that same peeping tom a very high painful price for that same peeping" chuckled Naruto with an evil smirk.

"Oh, let's pass out leaflets then we can't be blamed for his beating then" snorted Yuki in thought of Jiraiya coming trauma at the hands of the local kuniochis.

"Well he can't say that he did not earn it" commented Kui as she tilted her head in amusement of the well thought out plan. So are we ready to head over to the training site now Naruto-sama" Kui yipped as she finished the last of her fish from breakfast and licked her chomps clean.

"Yep, just let me clean up real quick then we can go" Naruto replied as he washed up his breakfast dishes then proceeded to grab and put on his ninja sandals to head out the door for training.

"Now let's go! Last one there is an ero-sannin" shouted Naruto as he dashed out the front door with Yuki and Kui hot on his trail. "Oh no, I'm not going to be an ero-sannin" Yuki growled as he dashed passed Kui to catch up with Naruto.

"Remember we need to go to the red bridge over by the Hokage Monument" barked Kui as the group changed directions to head towards the Hokage Monument.

"I see the bridge" Yuki yipped as he passed up Naruto to land on the bridge first. Yuki then proceeded to jump around barking "I'm not an ero-sannin! I'm not an ero-sannin!" "Aaaa! I'm an ero-sannin!" pouted Naruto as he sat down in a huff because Kui had just beaten Naruto to the bridge. "Not necessary Naruto-sama. Your new genin teammates and your jonin-sensei are not here yet, so technical speaking your not the last one to the bridge for training this morning" Kui growled and barked as she prompted Naruto into a smile. "Oh yeah; I'm not the last one here, so I'm not an ero-sannin. Yippee!" Naruto shouted as he pumped his fist into the air.

"Since we arrived early, what are we going to do now?" questioned Naruto to Kui and Yuki with a questioning tilt of his head in thought. "Well you can always practice your chakra control. We are on a bridge with water running under it" commented Kui as she walked over to the edge of the bridge to look down at the running water. "Yuki, you can also practice this exercise with Naruto-sama" Kui yipped and barked as she leaped gracefully down onto the water.

"Wait for me!" Yuki barked to follow Naruto as he leaped over the bridge railing onto a large boulder at the river's edge to listen to what Kui had to say.

"Now Naruto-sama, as you know the difference from tree climbing or walking and water walking is that the depth and consistent of the water varies with each moment of time. Where the tree has the same consistent at all times, there is no movement of the tree as there is with the flow of water. Since the water is constantly flowing and moving, so you have to constantly change the flux of your chakra energy to stand constantly on the top of the water" Kui lectured as she watched Naruto concentrate to put the correct amount of chakra into his feet to stand on top of the water.

"Yuki you need to not worry about getting your paws wet" Kui growled to Yuki as she watched him try to tip-toe tentatively around the top of the water; rather unsuccessfully as he was sinking into the water with varying steps and varying depths into the water. Thus getting his paws rather wet. "Once you stop worrying about getting wet then you can concentrate on your chakra flow to your feet" Kui growled at Yuki as she gracefully walked on the water around Yuki.

"Once you have standing and walking on water down, then you can do other things on the water to improve your chakra control. You can go skating on top of the water, do hand stands, and other exercises. This will aloud you to get practice at pushing chakra out of different areas of your body" Kui commented then proceeded to skate, twist, and leap on the water top around Naruto and Yuki.

"Cool!" Naruto murmured with his eyes wide open in excitement. "So once I master water walking, I can learn to skate on the water. Neat! I am going to master this today" shouted Naruto with confidence, as he walked slowly around the water and only occasionally sinking up to his ankles.

"Hey! Who are you and what are you doing down there?" a black haired boy growled at the group from the railing of the bridge overhead.

"We're walking on water" Naruto laughed as he shouted backed to the boy. "I'm Naruto, and this is Kui and Yuki" Naruto said as he leaped up to the bridge railing. "Are you Uchiha Sasuke?" asked Naruto as he balanced himself on the railing with Yuki on his left and Kui on his right.

"Yeah" Sasuke growled at Naruto with a frown on his face and his arms crossed. "Why are you here?"

"Were you not told; that I would be joining the team as the third genin?" questioned Naruto as he tilted his head at Sasuke. "No, I have not heard anything about this" growled Sasuke with an intense frown. "Oh, well! I'm Uzumaki Naruto and on my right with the lovely red fur is Kui, and on my left with the handsomely rugged silvery-white coat is Yuki. Kui is an elder spirit kitsune who I will also be taking training with during the next year. Yuki here has been my furry little friend for the past eight years" Naruto stated with a big foxy grin.

"So where is our other teammate? I heard her name was Hinata" asked Naruto as he looked to Sasuke for an answer. "She's over there by the bridge opening" Sasuke gestured over to Hinata's location. As Naruto looked over to Hinata; Hinata was looking down at the ground twisting her fingers around themselves, as she mumbled a greeting.

Suddenly Naruto appeared right next to Hinata looking down at the same ground that she was to see what was so interesting about it. "What are you looking at?" asked Naruto as he tried to identify what Hinata was looking at on the ground. "Noth…Nothing" Hinata stuttered out as she blushed a deep red. "Oh, okay" Naruto said as he looked up at Hinata. "I'm Naruto your new teammate" Naruto said as he put his hand out to shake. "Hi Naru..Naruto. I'm Hyuga Hin..Hinata" Hinata slowly stated as she placed her hand in Naruto to shake and with a little bow of her head.

"I hope that we will be great teammates together and do some hard training too" Naruto said as he pumped Hinata hand with energy and confidences.

"So when does the sensei get here?" Naruto questioned to Hinata and Sasuke as he released Hinata hand and looked over to Sasuke direction. "Doesn't training begin at nine?" asked Naruto to the two genin.

"Yeah, let train, let train!" barked Yuki as he started to run up and down the bridge railing.

Suddenly the two genin froze and looked over to the talking kitsune. "Yo..You talk!" stuttered out Hinata as Sasuke looked shocked at Yuki.

"Yes, spirit kitsunes can talk and communicate with humans, when we desire you to understand us. Since you are Naruto-sama teammates, you will be able to understand us, but someone who is just walking by would not be able to understand us. All they would hear is us barking, growling, and yipping" Kui said as she jumped down from the railing to go and sit down by Naruto. "I will be training Naruto-sama and Yuki in some specialty jutsus" commented Kui to the two amazed genins. "I hope that we can all get along together" Kui yipped with a nod to both genins.

"Wow!" Hinata quietly spoke as she looked between Kui and Yuki in amazement.

"Do you have any general training that you can train the whole group?" questioned Sasuke in remembrances of their earlier activity.

"Sure there are many things that I can help and train you in for your shinobi training" stated Kui. "That is if your sensei does not mind the additional training that you would receive from me." "Humph! He won't mind; Kakashi-sensei is always late, so we have time in the morning before he gets here to do extra training" Sasuke growled at the thought of the continually late sensei.

"Extra training in the morning before missions would be nice" Hinata timidly spoke as she hesitantly looked up at the boys on her team. "So extra training before Kakashi-sensei gets here in the morning" Naruto smile and pumped his fist into the air. "Okay Kui its back to you for training" shouted Naruto with excitement and glee.

"Training, training, training" Yuki yipped and he danced and jumped around the three genins. Hinata let loose a small giggle at Yuki's antics. Sasuke could be seen trying not to break loose a small smirk at the kitsune behavior.

Kakashi could be seen up in a nearby tree with a happy little eye smile at his teams interaction with hope for his team's future development as shinobi for Konoha. He then proceeded to pull out his little orange book to enjoy the next hour in peacefully reading as his team trained under Kui.

All of a sudden Yuki barked to the group; "So does this mean that sensei is the "Ero-sensei!"". Naruto then proceeded to laugh out loud at Yuki comments as Kui smirked in remembrances of the last one to the bridge comments from earlier in the morning. Sasuke raised his eyebrow in questions, as Hinata blushed at the thought of her sensei being an ero-sensei. Kakashi could be seen with sweat drops from the kitsune words.

**To be continued **

**Reviews are appreciated!**


	9. Chapter 9

**Note**: I have no ownership to Naruto

**Part 9 – 05/29/06**

Missions!

**A Kitsune's Adventure**

"Okay Team, are you ready for your next mission?" asked Kakashi as he pooffed onto the bridge railing. Currently team seven had been working together for two weeks, and there had already been a large number of changes in the genin's performance and attitudes.

Sasuke was a bit more eager to start training in the morning and he did not frown in disapproval quite a much as before. Hinata had stopped staring at the ground as her confidence grew; and she stuttered a lot less then previous. Each morning she bought a bento lunch to share with the team, which increased the teamwork and their working relationship. Kakashi even started to come earlier to watch his genin team train with Kui. He would occasionally add additional comments to improve their performance and to increase their shinobi knowledge and to fine-tune their jutsu capabilities.

"Depends!" shouted Naruto as he pumped his fist into the air; as Kakashi formed sweat drops and Sasuke smirked and Hinata generated a small smile. Kui and Yuki were posted on either side of Naruto as he smiled up at his sensei.

"Why?" questioned Kakashi as he walked closer to his team and put away his Come Come Violence book into his back pocket pouch. "Why, because if it is another D rank mission and if it is fetching that blasted cat" hissed Naruto with Yuki growling in distaste of that particular neko. "Then I can not be held responsible for the full safety of that specific cat" hissed Naruto again. "Who know it might have run into a nasty trap out in those dark and dangerous woods" smirked Naruto in thought of various traps that he could quickly rig together for that individual neko. You could also see Sasuke thoughtful smirking look, which could only be generated with the thought of future bloodshed. Hinata shrugged and mumbled something about "boys and dumb cats" as she lend back against the bridge railings. Yuki lay down at Naruto's feet and was daydreaming about the taste of neko ala ramen. Kui was being patience thus waiting for the mission details.

Kakashi had walked up to and stopped by Hinata and thought 'oh well that would be the third time we've caught him this week'. He then confirmed out loud, "then we are off to the mission room to see if we can have a difference mission. Although it will not look good on the team since we have not completed the current assigned mission. Oh well, maybe the Sandaime still has the potato digging mission or maybe a babysitting the council elders great grandchildren mission. Those were some of the available D rank missions that were still open this morning."

"But we want a C ranked mission" wined Naruto. "Right guys!" as Naruto looked at his two-genin team members for support. "A higher ranked mission would be nice," stated Sasuke with a smirk in hope for a mission to truly test his growing abilities. "Ano if we catch the neko, do you think that hokage-sama will grant us a higher ranked mission. We have completed fifteen D ranked missions as a team and Sasuke-san and I have completed ten D ranked missions before Naruto joined the team" quieted reasoned Hinata to their jonin sensei.

"Well if we complete the assigned mission first then we can ask the Sandaime for a C ranked mission, but first the current mission of catching Tora the missing neko.

"Here you go," stated Yuki as she released Tora the missing neko at Kakashi's feet. "One missing neko found and caught. Let's go see about that mission," stated Kui calmly as she started heading for the mission room.

The group looked dumb founded at Kui who continued to walk away from the bridge. "How, When, Where," stuttered out Naruto, as he looked in amazement towards Kui. Kui stopped and looked back at the group. "When: Why simple while you all were talking and planning about how to get a C ranked mission. Where: Why just off the bridge. I saw the neko attempting to sneak under the bridge and into the woods. How: Why simple by pouncing on it in a surprise attack. Thus the current D rank mission is complete and we can go and see about a C ranked mission.

"Yeah!" screamed Naruto and Yuki. "Let's go!" as they started to follow after Kui. Sasuke smirked and thought 'finally a decent mission' he then started for the mission room. "Well the neko was found, eh Kakashi-sensei" remarked Hinata as she left to follow her genin teammates. "Yes, the neko was found" replied Kakashi as he leaned down to pick up the neko that Kui had placed at his feet. "I guess we will see about a C ranked mission now" stated Kakashi to the wind, as the bridge was empty of his genin team.

"Hey old man – We want a C ranked mission" yelled Naruto the moment that he walked into the mission room. Kui, Yuki, and Sasuke with Hinata following a few steps behind quickly followed Naruto into the mission room.

"What happen with your current mission Team Seven?" questioned the Sandaime to the genin team. "And where is the said mission and your team sensei," remarked Iruka as he sat next to the hokage. "Yo! Someone missing a cat," remarked Kakashi as he strolled into the mission room; in his arms was the said missing neko, who was struggling to get loose to avoid its fate.

"See there's the mission objective; can we now have a C ranked mission," replied Naruto to the hokage with repressed hope of a better mission. "Well, I do not know!" slowly spoke the Sandaime to the genin team to draw out the suspense.

"Please hokage-sama. We have completed a number of D ranked missions successfully. We would like to respectfully request a C ranked mission," Hinata asked with respect and patience, waiting for the hokage's response. Sasuke nodded an agreement to the request and hoped to receive the requested mission. Behind the genin team, you could see Kakashi give a little nod to the Sandaime as the hokage had raised an eyebrow in question to Kakashi.

"Well then since you asked so nicely; how could I refuse," commented the hokage as he blew a column of smoke from his pipe.

"Yahoo!" yelled and barked Naruto and Yuki in excitement. Hinata was giving the two a small smile at their antics. Sasuke was smirking up a storm at the thought of testing his capabilities. Kui and Kakashi were standing back watching Naruto and Yuki's impromptu dance. Iruka was shaking his head in amusement, while the Sandaime smiled and smoked his pipe.

"So what is the mission?" Naruto suddenly asked as he stopped jumping around to stare at the hokage.

"Well there is that one or maybe this one," replied the Sandaime as he shuffled around some papers that were on the table in front of him.

"Old man" wined Naruto with a pout, while Yuki gave the hokage his sad foxy frown.

"Alright already, stop with the crying or you'll flood the mission room. How does a diplomat mission to hidden sand sound to you," the hokage replied as he handed over the mission scroll to Kakashi.

"This mission is a C to a B ranked mission, so I hope you're happy. Your mission is to go to Hidden Sand for a week and training with one of their genin teams and to also complete some of their genin missions while you are in Hidden Sand. We do this every year to build better relationships between hidden shinobi villages.

"Oh yeah!" hollowed Naruto then continued back to his previous jumping and dancing. "We're going to Sand! We're going to Sand! Hey, I can visit with Gaara again. I have not seen him in two years with all the traveling with ero-sennin," remarked Naruto as he came to a halt. "I'll need to bring him his gifts from all my traveling. Oh and something from Hidden Leaf also; hmm maybe that t-shirt I saw last week that said, "My friend when to Hidden Leaf and all they got me was this t-shirt" 'he he' Naruto laughed in thought of what Gaara's reaction would be to the gifts.

Sasuke was smirking at Naruto's reaction and trying to contain his excitement at going to another hidden village. Hinata was lost in thought as she was planning what to pack for the trip. Kakashi was seen reading his little orange book and trying to hide his blush. Kui was getting an update from Yuki about Hidden Sand and any other information pertaining to Naruto and his previous visits to Sand.

The hokage then coughed to get everyone's attention. "Now that everyone is with us, you will leave for Hidden Sand tomorrow; it will take you three days to get there. You will meet with the Kazekage of Hidden Sand to get your genin team assignment with them. You will train and complete genin missions with them for a week then return back to Konoha. So you will be gone for around two weeks, so go home and pack for whatever you need," stated the hokage as the group listened to the mission details.

"Okay team, we will meet at 8 am at the North gate" remarked Kakashi as he then strolled out of the mission room. Sasuke and Hinata followed quietly after Kakashi while Kui rounded up and herd out Yuki and Naruto.

Naruto could be heard as he walked out of the mission room wondering out loud; "how much instant ramen he should take on the trip" as Yuki yipped "plus my ramen too".

**To be continued**

**Reviews are appreciated!**


	10. Chapter 10

**Note**: I have no ownership to Naruto

**Part 10 – 06/21/06**

Journey to Hidden Sand!

**A Kitsune's Adventure**

"What is Hidden Sand village like Kakashi-sensei," asked Hinata as the group dashed through the trees with Konoha a good day's journey behind them. Currently the genin team had a good day and a half left in their journey to Hidden Sand, and was approaching the border to Wind Country. The air around them was already getting hotter and the tree-line was thinning out as their approached to the border.

"Hidden Sand is located in the desert and the shinobi of that village specializes in wind jutsus where Hidden Leaf specializes in fire jutsus. Hidden Sand is also called Suna to its citizens. Currently Konoha has a non-aggressive treaty with Suna, and our current mission is the yearly genin trade mission. They set a team of genin over to Konoha once a year and we send over a team as well as some other time point through the year."

"Kakashi, are we suppose to learn anything in particular on this mission?" questioned Naruto as he jumped from the last large tree in the area to the ground as he and his fellow teammates followed his jounin sensei.

"No Naruto, this is a straight forward mission, no spying or anything. This mission is design to allow you to meet other genin in a somewhat friendly setting; so that you can meet different people in different environments. Naruto, you've seen this in your travels with Jiraiya-sama. People from different villages across the shinobi nations dress, act, and live differently based on different environments settings," commented Kakashi to the team as they started across the seeming endless desert.

"So Naruto, who is this Gaara you were talking about before?" questioned Sasuke as he stepped around Yuki who was playing tag with a bunshin of Yuki that Naruto had made for him.

"Gaara, he well; he is a complex person," spoke Naruto slowly in deep thought. "Gaara is not really liked by most of the people in his village" continued Naruto as he looked off into the distance.

"I meet Gaara back when I was six. Ero-Sennin, Yuki, and I had stopped in Hidden Sand for a short time on our journey; and Yuki and I meet Gaara in a small park in the village. Gaara was watching a group of children play kick ball from over on the nearby swing set and the ball had been accident kicked to hard over into Gaara direction. The sand around Gaara had reached out and caught the ball as it approached him. Gaara had reach out to pick up the ball from the sand to give it back to the group of children, when they realized who had the ball they then ran away screaming 'monster'. Gaara had looked so sad, he then put the ball down and when back to the swing by himself.

After that Yuki had looked strangely at Gaara then said we should make a new friend. So we walked over and I got on the swing right next to Gaara. He did not even know I was there as he was looking down at the ground and pushing at the sand around his feet as he was slowly swinging; until he heard the squeak of my swing next to him. So we sat there slowly swinging back and forth for about a half a hour before either of us spoke.

Then both of our stomachs complained in hunger. Gaara looked a little bashful and I gave a little laugh and rubbed the back of my head. Yuki was laughing his little tail off at us. I asked him if he wanted to join me for some ramen. He nodded and the rest is history" spoke Naruto with a little smile on his face as the group continued to dash into the desert.

"Silent friends!" said Sasuke in mid-run with a smirk. Hinata gave Naruto a supporting smile of encouragement. Kakashi gave an upside down eye smile to show his support. Kui gave Naruto a happy bark, where Yuki ran along side Naruto and licked his hand in remembrance of the events.

"Silent friends, yea that about describes us. Gaara does not talk a lot. He can communicate a wealth of information in a single glance. Plus we just understand each other; although I definitely am trying to get him to lighten up some. He gets along with his sister and brother more now" remarked Naruto.

"So he has sibling?" questioned Hinata as she leaped over a small sand dune. "Yes Temari is his sister and she is the oldest. Kankurou is his brother and the middle child, then there is Gaara and he of course is the youngest in his family." "What about his parents?" questioned Sasuke in mid dash over yet another sand dune.

"Hmm, well Gaara's father is the Kazekage of Hidden Sand," responded Naruto with a frown. "Gaara has had a hard life in Hidden Sand; although he did go traveling with us for a year before he had to return to go the ninja academy in Suna. His father was not very nice but Jiraiya sort of bribed slashed blackmailed him into letting Gaara come with us," smiled Naruto.

"I would say that was one of the important things that Jiraiya did that I actually liked and approved of during our traveling, well besides training me" grinned Naruto.

"Oh, how did Jiraiya-sama convinces the Kazekage to let his son go and travel about with you and Jiraiya-sama?" asked Hinata with a questioning look on her face.

"Well, he gave the Kazekage some information on some missing sand nins and he mentioned something about withholding the sale of a certain little orange book within Wind Country," laughed Naruto with a smirk.

Sasuke smirked at the blackmail idea and gave a small chuckle. Hinata frowned in thought of the little orange book then blushed at the thought of what was in that little orange book. Kakashi hugged tightly his own copy of the said little orange book in a protective gesture. Kui just shook her head and Yuki barked 'ero-sennin'.

"We had a lot of fun traveling and training together," remarked Naruto as he looked off into the distance towards Suna. "Back then I was also training with Hitsu-sensei from the spirit kitsunes; he trained us in defensive elemental jutsus. Gaara already had limited control of the sand around him but he really excelled under Hitsu-sensei training. Gaara has an excellent defensive and offensive control of his sand. I cannot wait to see what he can do now. It's been two years now and Gaara is a perfectionists and a general around scholar" grinned Naruto at the thought of sparring with Gaara again.

"So he's strong!" questioned Sasuke with interest. "Gaara has excellent chakra control and he has a ultimate defensive shield that automatically protects him from danger" remarked Naruto to Sasuke. "Hmm" mumbled Sasuke in thought and hope for a change to test his strength.

"I'm just hoping we get to partner up with Gaara's genin team for the week" stated Naruto with a grin. "Then we might not be stuck doing D ranked missions all week" chuckled Naruto.

"Why would we not be completing D ranked missions in Suna, Naruto?" asked Hinata as Sasuke looked on with interest. Kakashi raised his eyebrow also in question. "Well Gaara and his genin team really do not do D ranked missions any more; maybe on their first week as genin but definitely not now. Gaara is more likely to do a C or B ranked mission then any other type" stated Naruto.

"How do you know what type of mission that Gaara gets in Hidden Sand" asked Sasuke as he dodged around other sand dune. "Well because we write to each other. Konoha and Suna have a treaty in place so there is no rule saying that I cannot communication or write with someone in other hidden village. I have a few friends from my journey that I correspond with via letters," remarked Naruto as he dodged Yuki's attempt to nip at his heels; only to get a nose full of sand.

"You're so lucky Naruto; to be able to make friends outside of Konoha and to be able to keep up to date with them through letters" a hopeful Hinata stated in thought of making a friend outside of the Konoha.

"Yep and Gaara's my best friend, and the bonus part is that I will see him again in a few weeks at the chunin exam in Konoha. I'm going to introduce him to Ichiraku, the best ramen stand that I have come across in years never less across the shinobi nations" stated Naruto proudly as he pumped his fist into the air. Yuki was starting his 'ramen' chant while running along side of Naruto.

"Well team lets work hard and have fun" stated Kakashi as he passed around a water canteen. "Yes sensei!" shouted Naruto. "Let's train hard and learn new jutsus" continue Naruto as he passed the canteen to Hinata after taking a gulp of water. "And make new friends" smiled Hinata after taking a sip of water and passing the canteen to Sasuke. "And to test our strength" smirked Sasuke as he took a mouthful of water then passed the canteen back to Kakashi. "And to eat more ramen" barked Yuki as the group laughed at his comments. Kui then said "to friendships, understanding, and training."

"So to Suna we go!" shouted Naruto as the group laughed.

**To be continued**

**Reviews are appreciated!**


	11. Chapter 11

**Note**: I have no ownership to Naruto

**Part 11 – 07/08/06**

Gaara!

**A Kitsune's Adventure**

"He's coming!" was the sudden warning that Yuki gave to the group as Hidden Sand came into view over the distance sand dune. "Who's coming Yuki-kun" asked Hinata with a surprised look on her face at his sudden proclamation.

"Gaara is Hinata" was Naruto reply as he had a large happy grin on his face. "How far Yuki?" asked Naruto as he readied himself; for what most of the group wondered. "A mile and closing was Yuki's reply, as he dashed alongside Naruto; his golden eyes sprinkling with joy.

"What's that?" pointed out Sasuke at the sudden appearance of a sand twister about a half a mile in front of them. "Gaara's here, Gaara's here!" was Yuki's happy bark as he dived straight into the twister's base. Naruto was right behind Yuki with two elongated kunais in his had; his blue eyes bright with joy and a sunny closed mouth grin on his face; as who wants a mouthful of sand.

"Naruto-kun!" was Hinata alarmed cry as she saw him disappear into the sand twister. The dull sound of metal hitting something hard was heard along with the shouting, barking, and growling heard with the whirling sand death trap. Sasuke wondered what could cause the varies metal and stone grinding sounds; as he had expected metal on metal sounds and not the current dull sounds of metal hitting stone or rocks with the occasional barking and growling from who they expected was Yuki.

The rest of the group waited a good distance outside of the continuing sand twister which was halted about five-hundred feet in front of the group. Hinata had a small frown of worry on her face and she moved herself into her battle stance. Sasuke worn a grim and serious expression on his face and was currently pulling a kunai from his side pouch. Kakashi was glancing over his copy of 'Icha Icha Paradise' at the sand twister and the sounds of battle coming from within the twister. Kui was sitting down by Kakashi, her eyes and ears narrowed in concentration at the twister as she caught glimpses of the battle from inside the twisting sand.

Suddenly Yuki was ejected from the twister with a yelp; Kui laughed and commented that he should have dodged instead of jumped. Yuki twisted in midair and landed gracefully on his feet beside Hinata; the continuing sound of battle raging from the twister.

"Are you okay Yuki-kun?" asked Hinata as she knell down to check over Yuki. "Yep, I'm okay Hinata-chan" was Yuki happy yip as he shook off some extra sand from his furry form. "Are you going back in to the twister Yuki-kun?" questioned Hinata as she rubbed Yuki in between his ears; Yuki purred his happiness. "No, I'm tagged out" was Yuki purred answer as he rolled over to have Hinata scratch his stomach his tail waving in the wind slowly with leisure.

"Why?" questioned Sasuke as he placed his kunai back into his side pouch at Yuki's reply and casual manners. "Because we are just playing" was Yuki lazy reply. "We used to always mock battle each other" continued Yuki under Hinata's gentle touch. "So you battled two on one" questioned Sasuke as he tilted his head towards the twister. "No, we would battle two on two" was Yuki reply as he happily purred his delight. "Two on Two?" was Hinata questioned remark. "Yep, two on two" purred Yuki as he licked Hinata's hand in a happily thank you for the scratch and belly rub; as Hinata stood up beside Yuki as he rolled over and stood up on his feet.

Suddenly a small round furry object was ejected from the twister and shoot straight at Kakashi; who caught the object with his free hand and tucked it under his arm.

"Aaaa!" whined the object from under Kakashi's arm as he continued to read his little orange book; his finger turning a page of his book. "I thought I had him" continued the furry object as it un-tucked its head and unrolled itself.

"I don't think so Shushu-kun" barked Yuki in laugher at the small furry object which turned out to be a small sandy brown raccoon. "I was so close too; and DON'T CALL ME Shushu-kun, you baka kitsune" snapped the raccoon in anger. "Or you'll do what?" questioned Yuki with a laughing bark. "I'll scratch out your eyes and bit you, you, you baka kitsune" shouted the angry raccoon as it tried to get loose from Kakashi.

"Now Yuki stop teasing Shukaku, it's not nice" remarked Kui calmly from beside Kakashi. "Yea, baka Yuki; listen to your elders" was Shukaku reply as he blew a raspberry at Yuki. "And you should act your age Shukaku; you're not acting like the proper lord that you are" was Kui respond to Shukaku taunt. "But Kui-chan; I'm in this little body how can I act as a proper lord if I look like a chibi" whined Shukaku in hope from some support.

"It does not matter your form, you should act as the lord that you are and behave in a matter that is proper" was Kui stately response. "Aaaa, Kui-chan" whined Shukaku as he tried to show Kui his wide baby brown eyes with his cute little lower lip sticking out in a pout. "But nothing" was Kui stern reply as she focused once again on the twisting sand. "You're no fun" pouted the little raccoon from under Kakashi arm. Kakashi casually scratched under Shukaku's chin with his hand from the arm that was holding him securely.

"Kakashi-sensei, shouldn't we do something?" questioned Hinata as she still glanced with a worrying frown at the sand twister; battle could still be heard ringing from within the twisting sand. "Don't worry Hinata-chan, Naruto-kun can take care of himself; besides he's only playing and having a little fun" replied Kakashi as he gave Hinata his happy little eye smile.

Slowly the twisting sand came to a slow stop, still hanging in the air. Naruto and a pale face red-headed boy could be seen from the Konoha shinobis. One of Naruto's elongated kunai was just inches from the red-headed boy's left eye; the other was just barely holding off a lance of sand that was slowing pushing, inch by inch towards Naruto's heart.

"So do we declare a draw and continue on to Suna Gaara" asked Naruto with his foxy grin. "Humph" was Gaara's reply as he withdrew his lance of sand; as Naruto pulled away from Gaara and put away both kunais. "It's a draw but you have to admit that was one of our better battles" remarked Gaara as he crossed his arms in a little huff at not winning the mock battle outright.

"So we are at 40 wins to you and 41 wins to me and 38 draws. Oh man, you must have spent all day training for the past two years; that sand lance almost had me" laughed Naruto as he rubbed the back of his head. "And that twister; wow man that must eat up some massive chakra, your control has greatly improved too" continued Naruto as he remarked on the mock battle.

"Well your speed has jumped ten fold since the last time we battled. I saw that you had little problem breaking through my sand shield most of the times" commented Gaara as he and Naruto headed towards Suna. The rest of the group had little sweat-drops hanging from their heads after being ignored by the two.

"Hey what about Shukaku and me; we were battle too" whined Yuki as he ran to catch up with Naruto. "You sucked" snipped Shukaku from under Kakashi arm. "I did not" replied Yuki hotly; as he stuck his tongue out at Shukaku. "You do to; you were the first one knock out of the battle" proudly stated Shukaku as he lifted his nose at Yuki. Yuki pouted beside Naruto as his tail drifted down to the sand.

"Oh, I don't know Yuki, you kept Shuu pretty busy" remarked Gaara as he tried to lift Yuki's spirit. "Yea, right up to the point where you jumped up to bit and tackle me and ended up being sucked out of the battle by the twister" laughed Shukaku. "I don't know Shushu-kun" remarked Naruto with a backward glance. "It was not long before you overshot your own mark in your own claw attach that you ended up being eject also" remarked Naruto in a neutral voice. Shukaku 'huffed' in silences.

"It was a good battle and we have learned much from it and we have learned what we need to improve upon" remarked Gaara from beside Naruto, a small smile on his face. "And we have the perfect opportunity to train in a new environment" remarked Naruto as the rest of the group caught up to them.

"Wow Naruto-kun; you and Gaara-san are really good" spoke Hinata quietly as she looked at the duo thoughtfully and quite impressed. "Humph" mumbled Sasuke as he sized up Gaara for a future match. "Yes that was quite an impressive match up Naruto-sama" barked Kui as she walked alongside Kakashi. Kakashi just gave the two his happy eye smile as he continued to ready his little orange book.

"Hey! Hey! I can see the gates" barked and yipped Yuki as he danced and pranced around Naruto and Gaara; while sticking his tongue out at Shukaku who was still under Kakashi's arm. "Just you wait fur ball, when I get loose you're eating sand" shouted Shukaku to Yuki; as Yuki just waved his up-raised tail at Shukaku; just to irritant Shukaku further.

"Come on Yuki; stop teasing Shukaku" remarked Naruto as he pouted at Yuki. "It's not nice and you would not like it if he did that to you" continued Naruto. "Aaaa!" whined Yuki as he pouted back at Naruto, but discontinued his teasing.

"Okay you guys, lets race; last one to the gates is a rotten egg and has to be the target in our shuriken practice tomorrow" shouted Naruto as he readied himself to run for the Suna's gates. "You're on" smirked Sasuke as Gaara rolled his eyes but readied himself. "Go!" shouted Hinata as she got a head start on the boys. The boys gapped at the back of Hinata, then shouted 'hey' before taking off after Hinata. Yuki was running alongside of Naruto as well as trying to tip at Gaara and Sasuke's heels to trip them up. "Well Kakashi should we be off" remarked Kui as the teens distanced themselves from the trio. "Well we better or we will be the rotten eggs" remarked Shukaku from under Kakashi's arm "and as I do not want to be their target from tomorrow." "Hmm, yes we better get there first then" commented Kakashi as he disappeared in a puff of smoke. "Show off" remarked Kui as she just fazed from view to appear at the Hidden Sand's gates.

**To be continued**

**Reviews are appreciated!**


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